Pert Alastair D, Baron Mark G, Birkett Jason W
Department of Forensic & Biomedical Sciences, University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, Lincoln LN6 7TS, U.K.
J Forensic Sci. 2006 Sep;51(5):1033-49. doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2006.00229.x.
Arson is a serious crime that affects society through cost, property damage, and loss of life. It is important that the methods and technologies applied by fire investigators in detection of evidence and subsequent analyses have a high degree of reliability, sensitivity, and be subject to rigorous quality control and assurance. There have been considerable advances in the field of arson investigation since the 1950s. Classification of ignitable liquids has been updated to include many new categories due to developments in the petroleum industry. Techniques such as steam or vacuum distillation and gas chromatography (GC) with flame ionization detection that may have been considered acceptable--even a benchmark--40 years ago, are nowadays generally disfavored, to the extent that their implementation may almost be considered as ignorance in the field. The advent of readily available mass spectrometric techniques has revolutionized the field of fire debris analysis, increasing the degree of sensitivity and discrimination possible considerably. Multi-dimensional GC--particularly GC x GC--while not yet widely applied, is rapidly gaining recognition as an important technique. This comprehensive review focuses on techniques and practices used in fire investigation, from scene investigation to analysis.
纵火是一种严重犯罪，它通过造成经济损失、财产破坏和人员伤亡来影响社会。火灾调查人员在证据检测及后续分析中所采用的方法和技术必须具有高度的可靠性、灵敏度，并要经过严格的质量控制和保证，这一点很重要。自20世纪50年代以来，纵火调查领域已经取得了相当大的进展。由于石油工业的发展，可燃液体的分类已更新，包括许多新类别。诸如蒸汽蒸馏或真空蒸馏以及带有火焰离子化检测的气相色谱法（GC）等技术，在40年前可能还被认为是可接受的——甚至是标杆性的——但如今总体上已不受青睐，以至于采用这些技术几乎可被视为该领域的无知表现。便捷的质谱技术的出现彻底改变了火灾残骸分析领域，极大地提高了灵敏度和辨别能力。多维气相色谱法——尤其是全二维气相色谱法（GC×GC）——虽然尚未广泛应用，但正迅速获得认可，成为一项重要技术。这篇全面的综述聚焦于火灾调查中使用的技术和实践，从现场调查到分析。
